On July 15th the latest Android super-phone was released by Motorola and Verizon Wireless. All hail the Droid X. The release was not without controversy though. The Droid X, while greatly raising the bar for Android phones in general, does so at the expense of the very power users and community that made the original Droid the gotta-have phone it became. Alienating this group may have far reaching consequences for Motorola.

... and while it would be cool to use the droid x as a platform to mess around with, it's not what it was marketed towards ...

According to what I read from the article, and if I understood it correctly, it wasn't explicitly marketed as that but the previous "version" has been known for that and people implicitly assumed the Droid X would follow the same path, although we now know these people were making assumptions based on nothing concrete.

From what I understand, the article author is blaming Motorola for (among other things) not having made it clearer that the Droid X would not allow what the Droid did allow. Now that I'm writing this, I wonder why Motorola should be blamed for false assumptions other people made about a new product.

And that phone is also quite probably going to be locked down securely...

I don't even think this is an issue of "just don't buy that phone"; people see desirable hardware and they want it, and want to play with it.

The thing is, the POINT of having a smartphone is that you can customize it by installing programs (in fact, isn't that the definition of 'smartphone'?) Customizing the system itself and installing completely new system files are the next logical steps in that direction, but Motorola and Apple have drawn the line there, and don't seem to appreciate why people would want to cross that line.

Ok, so adding stuff to a foundation and changing the foundation itself are different things... but they're not THAT different. You can already download and install new virtual keyboards, and those would seem to be a fundamental part of the touchscreen OS.

You are absolutely correct, some people are buying based on flawed assumptions. However, those assumptions are the direct result of Motorola, now admittedly, deliberately making the original Droid basically an open device and attracting the very community they now hold in disregard.

The only people I find any fault with for buying under false assumptions are those that know about being locked out and are counting on the community to find a way around them to re-enable things later.

Personally, I'd have no problem with the entire secured stack, eFuse included, if Motorola _AND_ Verizon would commit to unlocking everything in 6 to 12 months. But I'm betting they won't do that.

Part of the reason I wrote this article is that the ability to update the software is crucial to the longevity of the hardware in general. You can't trust/rely on Motorola (and to a degree Verizon) to always release version updates. It's counter productive for them, since upgrading device software lessens the motivations to get people to buy new devices.

Think that's unlikely? http://bit.ly/azy80x reports that FroYo, 2.2, is uncertain for the Droid Milestone. It still might happen, but if it does it appears unlikely it will be a timely update. Since the Milestone is locked using similar or the same techniques as the Droid X, I think it sets a bad precedent for future Motorola phones, including the Droid X. The community can put 2.2 on the original Droid and, curiously enough, Motorola will as well. The community is locked out of the Milestone, and Motorola's not sure they'll upgrade it. A pattern for the future? Only time will tell.